Former Massachusetts' governor Mitt Romney announced his official intention to run for the presidency this week.

His candidacy has one potentially insurmountable problem: America has same-sex marriage because of Mitt Romney.

This is just one of several huge vulnerabilities Mitt Romney has as he tries to convince the members of his own party that he is conservative enough to claim the Republican mantle for 2012. His flip-flops on abortion, RomneyCare in Massachusetts, and the unorthodoxy of Mormon theology are just three of the other hurdles he will have to clear.

But same-sex marriage is the biggie. The first domino to fall in the crusade to give marital recognition to non-normative sexual unions fell in Massachusetts, and it fell because then-governor Romney pushed it over.

When the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court declared that Massachusetts' marriage law was unconstitutional in the summer of 2003, the Court explicitly declared that the original law, which does not authorize same-sex marriage, be left intact. "Here, no one argues that striking down the marriage laws is an appropriate form of relief."

The Court acknowledged that the original law, left intact by its ruling, banned homosexual marriages and it gave the legislature 180 days to "take such action as it may deem appropriate." The legislature did precisely nothing.

Gov. Romney, acting on his own, ordered town clerks to begin issuing marriage licenses to same sex couples on May 17, 2004, in contravention of Massachusetts state law and with a threat of termination for non-compliant clerks.

Gov. Romney in essence told these town clerks that if they did not break the law, he would fire them.

Town clerks meekly complied, and became lawbreakers in the process. Massachusetts state marriage law is quite explicit: "Whoever, not being duly authorized by the laws of the commonwealth undertakes to join persons in marriage therein shall be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars or by imprisonment for not more than one year, or both."

Re-read that carefully. Town clerks must be "authorized by the laws of the commonwealth" to issue marriage licenses. They are not allowed to do so under the authorization of the Supreme Judicial Court or the governor. The "laws of the commonwealth" to this day do not authorize the granting of same-sex marriage licenses.

Massachusetts state marriage law has never been changed. Same-sex marriage is still illegal in the Bay State.

So the bottom line here is that Gov. Romney broke state law and ordered his town clerks to do the same.

After Gov. Romney legalized same-sex marriage by fiat in a burst of executive branch activism, Connecticut's Supreme Court followed suit in 2008, as did Iowa's Supreme Court in 2009. Same-sex marriage was not legalized through the legislative process anywhere in the United States until Vermont's legislature overrode a gubernatorial veto in April of 2009.

There are just two states now, New Hampshire being the other, where the elected representatives of the people have solemnized same-sex partnerships. In every other case, same-sex marriage has been forced down the throats of residents by an activist judiciary or, in the case of Massachusetts, by an activist governor imposing a non-binding judicial ruling on his own citizens.

For time and eternity, Mitt Romney will go down in history as the man who abused the power of his office to give the United States homosexual matrimony.

For most social conservatives, this will simply be a breach too far.

(Unless otherwise noted, the opinions expressed are the author's and do not necessarily reflect the views of the American Family Association or American Family Radio.)

Bryan Fischer

Bryan Fischer is the host of the daily 'Focal Point' radio talk program on AFR Talk, a division of the American Family Association. 'Focal Point' airs live from 1-3 pm Central Time, and is also simulcast on the AFA Channel, which can be seen on the Sky Angel network.